Meeting Ranma is Embarrassing
by Jokun
Summary: In 21st Century Japan, a family of vampires lived in secret, discreetly feeding on the populace. Their eldest daughter, Karin, has an embarrassing secret. Things get complicated when she meets a certain pigtailed martial artist. Ranma, Karin crossover.
1. Chapter 1

Meeting Ranma Is Embarrassing

AN: Ranma 1/2 and Karin do not belong to me but to their respective owners. This work is a little deviation from the ones I usually write.

The First Day of School is Embarrassing

It is dark, night perhaps? A billowing fog blankets the ground. There are trees all around - a forest. I'm not alone. I'm with someone. 'He' is holding my hand, pulling me along with him as we ran through the copse of trees, they're looming forms overshadowing us. I can't discern him clearly, only his silhouette. I hear him calling out to me but I don't understand the words, they sounded distorted. I look behind me. I see motes of light, flickering from within the woods; I'm not sure but they seem following me…following US! I hear angry shouts, coming from the bobbing lights, cries directed at me. I suddenly grow fearful, my heart beating so hard that it feels like it wants to burst out of chest. We run. Run. Run. Run for like an eternity. He stops. I stop. He looks at me, saying something, but I can't comprehend him still. He runs off toward the lights, toward the torches, toward the angry mob, leaving me. Leaving me all alone. I cry, cry my heart out for him, but I'm all alone now! I won't see him, ever. I want to forget, to forget him, for my sake. Suddenly a black swarm of wings and chitter engulfs me, threatening to smother me in their dark embrace, to oblivion. Yes, I very much welcome that, for everything to end. I thought I heard someone call my name. I dare to look. The winged blackness is gone, and there before me were four pairs of eyes, nothing more that slits in the background that seem to burn menacingly red at me, they're intensity overpowering, making my head swim. I feel like falling, falling into a bottomless abyss. Falling. Falling. Falling…

"Owww!"

A purple haired girl sat up after falling off the bed from her rude awakening.

"Oh, my nose…" she moaned, rubbing the sore anatomy, which kissed the floor from her fall earlier, unmindful of the blood trickling from her nostrils. She suddenly remembered. "That dream again…it is the third time this week. I wonder if has any significance?" Her eyes drifted to the clock beside her bed. Six passed six-thirty. "Alright, time to get ready." With inspired determination, Karin went about to prepare to herself for her first day in her new school.

_"The name is Karin Maaka, 16-years old and still having a lot to go for in life. My family and I have just moved here in Nerima to start out on a new beginning. Why is that you ask? My family tells me it was necessary for us to leave the last town we stayed in because of their discovery of our 'secret'. Strangely, for some reason, I don't seem to recall the details of our departure from that place. But it doesn't matter now, I must look on ahead and not on what has been."_

After freshening up and putting on her new school uniform, Karin proceed downstairs toward the kitchen to prepare herself breakfast before leaving.

_"It's always like this, me coming down to make breakfast for me and me alone. My family can't join me for obvious and vital reasons, and even though I've come to accept this as a given I can help but feel sad for my sad twist of fate." Karin sighed after gulping down a piece of toast and egg white. "But I shouldn't complain. At least we're one 'loving' family. Did I say loving? Sure we have our differences and quirks (and my quirk sure takes the cake) but what family doesn't these days."_

After eating she then cleaned the table and washed the dishes.

_"But in spite of my more or less average, if not very unusual, teenage life, I feel as if something is missing. Like a part of me is not there anymore…I really can't explain it."_

Karin proceeded to leave out of the house. "I'm going out now, everybody! See all this evening!" Hoping for someone to see her off, Karin momentarily waited by the door. Seeing and knowing no one will be coming out, Karin sighed for the last time and put on a cheerful smile.

_"Perhaps I might find the answer while on my first day in Furinkan High."_

As Karin unmindfully left the house, someone watched her leave, from behind the folds of heavy curtains of a window on the second floor.

"I hope your first day in school will be a happy one, onee-chan."

* * *

"So you wish to enroll in our beloved and prestigious educational institution of Furinkan High, aye, keiki!"

"Um, yeah."

Karin couldn't help herself from staring at the principal of Furinkan High School. When she first came to his office she caught the head master playing a ukulele, which in its self was strange enough but seeing him wearing a Hawaiian outfit and having a tiny palm tree sprouting on his head goes beyond strange.

"So where are your parents or guardians, hmm?" hummed Principal Kuno, making Karin feel uneasy.

"Um, they couldn't come… Here, this letter explains it all." Karin handed the neatly folded piece of paper to the eccentric school principal.

Principal Kuno then read the missive, intently absorbing its contents while making some grunting sounds. His body then tensed and stiffened; crumpling the piece of paper he threw it into the waste can. Breaking again into a cheesy smile he addressed Karin.

"Congratulations Maaka-san, you may now enroll here in Furinkan High. Please head to the Registrar to process your papers. Once you finish you may come to school on the following day."

Karin respectfully bowed to the principle "Thank you very much, Kocho Kuno. If you excuse me, I'll precede to what is required me…"

"Oh, one moment, Karin-san!"

"Huh?"

"I must say I like what you did to your hair. It suits you."

"Um, thank you, Kocho Kuno, I guess…" The feisty principal suddenly flashed a pair of scissors in each hand, winding, and making snipping sounds with them with emphasis.

"But it would look even better if I trimmed it a bit! I few snips here and there would do you much good. What do you say, Karin keiki, hmm?"

"Ah…thanks Kocho, but no thanks…I should be going now…" Karin hastened her way for the exit. The door then suddenly opened.

"Kocho! You've gone too far! Ohhhfff!" Tatewaki Kuno collided with Karin, causing them both to awkwardly stumble to the floor.

"It hurts…" Karin grimaced.

Tatewaki Kuno was the first to recover. "Oh, I'm terribly, terribly sorry Miss. I didn't know you were going out…" His eyes widened. He then took hold both of Karin's hands, startling a bit the girl of his actions. "Your beautiful eyes, your angelic face, your well endowed…" His eyes lingered on Karin's chest region. "Figure. These are the traits best describing…" He fumbled for the right word. "A goddess! And she right before me.

Karin just stared dumbfounded at him. 'Who is this guy?' "Um, excuse me but who are you?" she said, starting to feel creep-out by his inappropriate conduct toward her.

"Oh, how can I be so tactless. It is only proper that I introduce myself to you, 'oh sweet fair maiden'." Kuno stood up and started up a pose. "I'm the rising star of my class, the bright future of Japan. I'm the Captain of the Kendo team and they refer to me, as the 'Blue Thunder' of Furinkan High, for my swordsmanship is swift and devastating. My name Kuno Tatewaki, age eighteen, at your service." He finishes with a flourishing bow.

Karin blinks. "Kuno…so that means…" She looks at the blubbering principal when Tatewaki's face suddenly blocked her view.

"Do not be presumptuous to assume that I am in any way related to 'that' retard of a buffoon!"

"Oh, Ta-te-wa-ki keiki, you make my heart bleed. How can you say that to your very own flesh and blood that sired you into this world."

"Be silent, you cretin!"

"Karin-san," Kocho Kuno's sunglasses glinting dangerously. "It best you leave now, for I'll be having a private, heart to heart talk with my ungrateful son, hmm."

"Y-yes, I'm leaving."

"Wait!" Karin stopped to Kuno's beckon.

"First of all," facing the headmaster, Kuno blasted him. "YOU HAVE NO RIGHT to refer to me as your SON! And second." Switching then to a calmer exterior, he turned back to Karin.

"So your name is Karin, right?" he asked her.

"Ah, yes…"

"What an exquisite name, quite befitting the angel you are!"

Karin can't believe what this guy was saying. 'What am I? Some sort of an object on a glass display?'

"You are a student here, aren't you?"

"N-No, not yet. I was about to enroll…"

"Splendid! I shall wait when you get formally inducted into our school. And on that day I humbly ask…NO…I INSIST, that you go on a date with me."

"WHAT!"

"Ah don't be bashful, Karin-san. You should be honored that you get to be noticed by me, the 'Blue Thunder' Tatewaki Kuno. But until we me meet again at our appointed time of destiny, you'll have to excuse me as I must attend to some 'matters'. Farewell, Karin-san." After which, he rushed for the quirky school headmaster with a bokken drawn out of nowhere. Kocho Kuno confidently readied his defenses.

Karin stood there a moment longer, shock not of the destructive brawl progressing within the Principal's Office, between the two estranged combatants, but of the strange 'discussion' between her and the younger Kuno earlier. Karin just sighed in resignation and quietly left.

While Tatewaki Kuno went at it with his 'father' over some stupid school rule he just concocted up with, the crumpled letter that Kocho Kuno threw in the trashcan burst into nonflammable and odorless green flame, leaving no traces even ash.

* * *

Karin sighed, recalling the event that happened the other day as she walked to school.

'What an odd couple of characters those two were,' she thought, referring to the two Kunos. 'I wonder if I'll meet other people like them in school?' Karin wasn't too fond with the idea especially if it meant having her to interact with 'those' kind of people often. Karin fervently shook her head from side to side. 'No Karin, you should think things positively otherwise you won't get to enjoy teenage life to the fullest.'

Too engrossed in her reminiscence, Karin wasn't aware that she was nearing the gates of Furinkan High and into the waiting person of Tatewaki Kuno.

"I greet you with salutations, oh, Karin-chan!"

"K-Kuno-sempai!"

* * *

"What's Kuno doing to that poor girl?" said Akane, more to herself than for the ears of others, as she noticed Tatewaki Kuno accosting a purple haired female student by presenting a bouquet of red roses to her. The girl appeared awkwardly uncomfortable by the whole thing.

Ranma scarcely took note of the scene and just moved on.

"Ranma! Aren't you going to do something?"

"And what? Make you misunderstand my actions and get hit by you for no good reason," sullenly replied Ranma.

Akane's temper was beginning to rise in response to the remark.

"And besides," Ranma continued, " It's probably none of our business anyway, Akane. As long as Kuno doesn't bother us both that's good enough for me."

"Fine, I'll go find out for myself. Idiot!" Akane stomped off toward the unsuspecting pair.

Ranma felt rotten inside for acting callous but he had his reasons. For Ranma was feeling miserable. Which was unusual for the pigtailed haired martial artist who often sees things in a nonchalant, carefree manner. But in the past few days, things have been hectic for him. Ever since the failed wedding and his mother's declaration of putting it aside, Ranma has become open season to his other fiancés, who've intensified in their moves to stake their 'claims' over the pigtailed haired martial artist, much to the ire of Akane, who had become more disapprovingly violent lately. This has caused Ranma to adopt a bitter outlook in things after having vainly hoped for a genuine change after the 'wedding'. Plus his rivals have joined in the fray, causing more frustration in pigtail haired martial artist's part. Ranma was getting fed up with the way things were going but against his better judgment he had opted for the bitter pill and just continued to suck up all his worries and concerns.

"Aw, the heck with it!" Ranma put on a dark demeanor as followed Akane's lead.

* * *

"Please accept these as a token of my appreciation for one as lovely and stellar as you are, oh Karin-chan," cooed Kuno thrusting the bunch of flowers before an extremely embarrassed Karin.

"But I hardly know you. We just met yesterday…"

"Ah, but that is why this meeting symbolizes as a prelude to the beautiful relationship that could blossom between us, Karin-chan! And what better way to develop such an intimate bond than to get to know one another through the intricate procedures of courtship! Simply put I wish that we go on a date!"

'Gee, did he have to spout all that senseless gibberish just to ask me out?'

Karin was about to give her half-hearted answer when Akane butted in.

"Kuno-sempai, you leave this poor girl alone!"

Karin was both glad and curious of her impromptu savior.

"Ah, the beauteous Akane Tendo! It is a pleasure to grace your presence, but I'm afraid that I must decline your advances at the moment in lieu of Karin-chan here."

"You will leave her alone if you know what's best for you, Kuno-sempai!" Akane positioned herself into a fighting stance.

"My, my," Kuno coolly smiled, "do I sense a challenge here? I'm much obliged, Akane Tendo." He summoned his signature bokuto to his person, tossing the bouquet of roses into Karins arms. "Perhaps then, after I subject you to submission, you can join me and Karin-chan – on a double date."

"You're crazy and deluded as ever!" Akane spat, taking a step back as Kuno advanced a step forward toward her.

"Tsk,tsk, I see that the foul sorcerer, Saotome, still has a hold over you, even after that failed mockery of a wedding." Kuno creased his forehead as if remembering something painful. "Of all this things sacred and holy, I should have been that groom! Not THAT Saotome!" bemoaned Kuno.

"Yo, Kuno! Still up to your lecherous games, are you?" Ranma wasn't in a good mood and Akane noticed this.

"You stay out of this, blackguard! I will not allow you to ensorcel the heart of Karin-chan as well so that she may become a new addition to your dark harem!" A sandaled foot, Ranm's foot, planted itself onto Kuno's face, silencing him temporarily from uttering any nonsensical blabber.

"So it's Karin, now is it?" Ranma darkly faced the purple haired girl. "Is this guy bothering you, Karin?"

"Um…"

"Just say what really is your mind and heart!" Ranma snapped, startling both Karin and Akane. "Otherwise you'll regret it for, for not saying so, for the rest of your life! Believe me, I know."

'Who is this guy? Why does he make my heart beat so fast?' But Ranma intense glare at Karin forced her to give an answer. "Yes…he's bothering me." Turning to Kuno. "I'm sorry, Kuno-sempai, I'm just not interested in you, sorry…"

"Don't feel sorry for this guy." Ranma looked disgustedly at Kuno. "You'll just encourage him to go after you again."

'How dare you poison the mind of poor, sweet Karin-chan, Ranma Saotome!' Kuno was beginning to flail about, swinging his wooden sword in dangerous arcs.

Ranma had to release his footing on Kuno's face and jump high up into the air to avoid the kendoist's sword swings. His instinct told him to look back to see Akane grab Karin in time to avoid Kuno's sweeping bokken, causing both girls to sprawl on to the ground. Ranma cursed his carelessness. Turning again to Kuno in midflight he then drove down with a drop kick directed at the kendoist's head, which connected, sending the upperclassman rolling a few meters until lying face down on the ground stunned. Upon landing, Ranma went to pick up the bunch of roses that Karin dropped in the scuffle and headed for the quivering form of Kuno.

"Why…Why can't I beat you…" Kuno moaned at Ranma, trying to get up but his pained body wouldn't allow him. He finally succumbed to unconsciousness.

"Rest in peace," humorlessly uttered Ranma, dropping the bouquet of flowers on top of the out cold form of Kuno. With a downcast face Ranma walked back toward the two waiting girls.

"Why didn't you block that swing, Ranma!" scolded Akane. "Karin would have been hurt badly had it hit!"

"I'm sorry. Are you hurt?" dejectedly asked Ranma, more toward Karin than Akane.

Karin wasn't feeling well. All this excitement has caused her blood to shoot up, making her head swim, especially when she's close to this Ranma guy.

"Hey, are you okay?" said Ranma with concern, grasping Karin's shoulders. Akane became jealously conscious of this.

Karin was nearing her limit. She clasped her nose and mouth with both hands. "I'm sorry! I must GO!" Karin broke out of Ranma's grasp and ran quickly through the school gate.

"What did you do to her!" said Akane while knocking a baffled Ranma on the head.

"I didn't do nothing to her, Akane! She just ran off without much a thank you and much less a good explanation."

"Maybe she detested the way you were holding her you pervert!"

While Akane and Ranma were at it again (with Ranma receiving the fine end of Akane's fists), Karin found what she was looking for – a secluded portion, of scrubs and trees, within the school grounds. Making sure no one was looking Karin quickly snuck behind a couple of bushes. A light blast of red viscous liquid sprayed out like fountain from within the undergrowth followed by a distressful scream coming from Karin.

"NOOOOOOOOO!"


	2. Chapter 2

Meeting Ranma is Embarrassing

Disclaimer:Ranma 1/2 belongs to Rumiko Takahashi and Karin to Yuna Kagesaki.

Ranma's Fiancés? They're So Embarrassing!

After having relieved herself -- of excess blood, Kain wobbled her way through the school corridor in search of her classroom. Classes have already started a few minutes ago so in any likelihood Karin was considered late. Which was very bad especially since this is her first day in her new school. The ill though didn't go well with Karin as it sent another wave of blood rush in her system.

'Calm down Karin…everything will be all right… The teacher will understand why you came late… There were circumstances that happened that were beyond your control… They were the cause of your being late.'

Karin came to her senses, her vigor returning. 'Who am I kidding. That's the most irresponsible thing to say. No. I'll face this like a big girl. I'll take whatever punishment that is deserving of me.'

After a few more minutes she found the room she's been looking for. "3-C. This must be it?" Karin steeled herself. 'This is it Karin. Be brave and strong!' She took a deep breath and lightly knocked at the door. A child's voice from within responded.

"Enter."

Karin slid the door open. All eyes and attention were suddenly focused on her.

Karin's face blushed deep red. 'This is so embarrassing.'

"You there!"

"Huh?" Karin turned toward the teacher's desk, puzzled to only see a little girl in a yellow dress. The child gave her a disapproving stare.

"Are you going to just stand there, young lady? I have a class to run."

Karin was confused.

"Hey, it's alright! Don't you know that Chibi-Hinako here is our homestead teacher," said Hiroshi with smirk, nudging his buddy Daisuke in taking note of the newcomer.

"Teacher?" Karin exclaimed. "You mean this little girl?" Now she was really confused.

"That's right I'm the teacher here, and if you have no business in my class, you'd best leave. Otherwise I'll have you reported for loiter around in the hallway during class hours."

"I-I'm sorry," stuttered Karin, quickly rushing in and nearly tripping herself in the process. Most of the class laughed at the antic. Karin was really getting uncomfortable by all of this.

"Miss?" chibi-Hinako-sensei sternly glared a Karin.

"Oh, yes! Here is my personal data!"

Giving her one last dirty look, Teacher Hinako read Karin's papers. "You're ten minutes late Ms. Maaka," said Ms. Hinako, her eyes not leaving the document. "I do not tolerate tardiness in my class, especially in your case when this is your first day here. In my book, that's totally unbecoming for an aspiring student." The diminutive teacher finally faced Karin again. "Do you have anything to say for yourself, Ms. Maaka. Excuses perhaps?"

Karin was already perspiring with shame at this point but was resolute in her prepared response. "I-I have no excuse for my coming late on my first day, Hinako-sensei! Please discipline me the way you see fit!' Karin vigorously bowed before the teacher and silently prayed. 'I hope she goes easy on me?'

Miss Hinako size up the Maaka girl, weighing the conduct she was displaying along with her character as a whole. She made her decision. "I will let you off for now, Ms. Maaka. But I expect improvement in your conduct on the following days since you will be with us for the entire school year. Now go introduce yourself to the whole class."

Karin was thankfully glad for this. "Thank you very much, Hinako-sensei!" She bowed once again.

"I'm your English teacher so you will refer to me as Miss Hinako."

"Yes, Hina-I mean Miss Hinako."

The kid-teacher called the attention of her students. "Class it seems that a new student will be joining us. Please introduce yourself to the class, Ms. Maaka."

Karin tried to be cheerful and positive. "Hello, everyone. My name is Maaka Karin. My family and I have just moved here in Nerima…So I was wondering, once we become friends, you could help me get familiarized with the town."

"I'll help you with that, Karin-chan!" volunteered an amorous student.

Daisuke and Hiroshi, with amoral thoughts, quietly discussed of Karin by the sides.

"She sure has a nice set of knockers, doesn't she?" quietly said Hiroshi. His buddy Daisuke couldn't agree more.

"Yeah."

Akane, who was near them, heard the conversation. She was tempted of knocking the living daylights of those two perverts for making an inappropriate comment toward a female student. But she restrained herself, knowing full well that she was in Hinako-sensei's class.

Awkwardly smiling, Karin continued her introduction. "I'm not much into sports or any strenuous activities due to my sickness…"

"What kind of sickness?" curiously asked the ponytail haired friend of Akane, Sayuri.

"Anemia," simply answered Karin, but inwardly felt some reservations for giving out such a lie.

There were some mixed murmurs from among the students over Karin's revelation. Some thought of it as a shame or a letdown, while other felt sorry for her or were sympathetic. Karin tried to brighten the mood.

"But I'm good at cooking! I like experimenting on all sorts of things culinary, and they always turn out great. Perhaps I could bring some next time here in class to share."

"Well what you know," grinned Daisuke, turning to Hiroshi. "She the exact opposite of Akane."

The youngest Tendo in question tensed herself upon hearing that side comment.

"Yeah, it's like Karin has everything that Akane doesn't if you know what I mean," smirked Daisuke.

Akane broke a piece of her desk, by its side, her anger seething with no end. Luckily, Miss Hinako didn't notice.

"Excuse me Karin-kun but what's with those fangs?" asked spooky-eyed Gosunkugi Hikaru all of the sudden. "Are you a vampire or something?"

The question made Karin uneasy. "V-Vampire!" She hastily counters. "Don't be silly! These," pointing to her 'fangs'. "Are overly developed," she would have gone for 'abnormally large' but decided against it. "Canines. Yeah that's what they are"

"Now that Gosunkugi mentioned it, she does have a pair of fangs. But I think it makes her even cuter," happily stated Daisuke.

'That's not the kind of reaction I was expecting but it will do,' sighed Karin.

"Hey, I bet Karin would be a perfect match with that yellow-bandana guy that Ranma always beats. He has fangs. What's his name again?" Daisuke directed his questioning at a slouching and uninterested Ranma by his desk.

"Ryoga. And I couldn't care less," mumbled Ranma, his mind and attention focused on else where.

As usual Ranma becomes the focus of Akane's disdain even if he is not solely at fault. 'How dare you drag Ryoga's name into your private jokes, Ranma, he's perhaps the only one who was ever sweet and considerate towards me, unlike you!' In her silent rage, Akane pulverized the piece of wood she was holding into sawdust.

"All right Ms. Maaka, I believe you've introduced yourself enough," stated Miss Hinako, somewhat getting impatient. "Please take the empty seat near Ms. Tendo and Mr. Saotome, and we shall continue class."

Karin gulped, seeing where she'll be sitting. 'It's that guy again. What was his name? Ranma. Oh, why am I so unlucky in my first day of school.' Karin slowly paced her way toward her assigned seat and desk. Her heart rate began to increase while her blood pressure began to rise as she got nearer and nearer where Ranma sat. Is it just her, or is it getting hot in here. For some reason she could not take her attention off of the pigtail haired guy.

"_You want to bite him don't you?"_

"Huh? What?" said Karin to herself, wondering who spoke to her.

"_Don't deny it. He is after all your 'type'. Brooding, miserable, despondent. Your type."_

'My…type? Karin felt she knew the voice, and the knowledge frightened her. 'No, I can't! Not here. Not now. And I wouldn't want to! Not on my first day.'

Ranma finally took notice of her. "What? Is there something on my face?"

But Karin didn't hear Ranma's words. The inner voice kept on prodding her.

"You are only delaying the inevitable. Your longing for 'cattle', like him, only prolongs your suffering and discomfort. Go ahead and do yourself a favor. Sate yourself."

Karin's mouth slightly gapes open, exposing her upper canines. Her breathing coming in shallow and short gasps. '…Yes…sate…my…self…'

"…Karin…" Someone spoke her name, the proof of her identity, the link that makes her 'her'.

"Karin," it was Akane's voice. "You better sit down already if you don't want to get into Ms. Hinako's 'bad side'."

"Huh? Er, right." Karin quickly sat down. Sighing she then glances back at Ranma, catching him making a chance glace at her. His surprised look quickly turns into a frown as he looks away from her. Karin herself faces front, her cheeks turning rosy red and becoming warm.

'Why can't I get him off my mind?' She clutched her chest, where her heart is supposed to be. 'If this keeps up, I won't be able to hold it.'

"Are you all right, Karin?" asked Akane with a hint of concern. "You seem to be blushing a lot." Although Akane already suspected the reason she kept it to herself and decided to keep an open mind.

"Oh, I-I'm just embarrassed…for not having thanked you and Ranma for helping me out earlier." 'Smooth move, Karin,' she thought, patronizing herself.

"That? Oh it's nothing, really. I just couldn't stand there and let Kuno-sempai try harassing someone as weak and fragile as you. Oh, I didn't mean that in a bad way…" Akane wasn't sure herself if she was just being thoughtless or being an ass toward Karin due to some inputted jealously in her part. But Karin shook her head and smiled at her.

"No, that's okay. I don't know what I would have done if you and Ranma haven't showed up, and I thank you for that."

"Karin…"

"Akane…can you tell Ranma later, that I really appreciate what he did for me earlier and…tell him sorry for the misunderstanding in my part," meekly pleaded Karin.

"Sure…why not," said Akane, giving out a false smile. "I'll give him the good word."

"Thanks Akane. You're really a kind person." Karin returned the smile.

Akane was taken aback by the words, feeling undeserving. "Yeah…sure."

While immersed in they're girl to girl talk, the both of them became oblivious to a chibi-Hinako-sensei, maneuvering around the classroom and coming up behind their seats.

"Miss Tendo! Miss Maaka! Out in the hallway! NOW!"

* * *

"This is…this is just too embarrassing." Karin was in tears. "For being scolded and penalized by the teacher on the very first DAY!" cried Karin. 

Akane felt for the girl, feeling responsible. "I'm sorry Karin…for getting you in this mess."

Both girls stood by the side of the hallway, bearing a bucket of water in each hand, as punishment for their 'inattentiveness' in Ms Hinako's class. Karin for her part was worried for the scolding that she would get from her parents if they ever get word of this.

"Say Karin?" Akane began, doing a downcast glance. "Forgive me for saying this but you act kinda weird, whenever you're near Ranma. You have this 'look'."

Karin immediately forgot her moment of consternation, listening to Akane's banter, which concerned her somewhat.

Akane continued. "At first I thought if it was something Ranma did to you earlier, outside the school gate. But…" 'Why am I telling her this?' thought Akane, feeling uneasy and blushing all the sudden. "I noticed the way you looked at him in the classroom as if…you were bent focused on him. Like you needed something from Ranma."

Karin kept quiet; wary of the direction this discussion was leading to; hoping that Akane was not heading there.

Akane optimistically smiled. "But hey, why am I putting you on the spot here? You're just new here."

Karin was glad, for now, that Akane hadn't really figured out anything of her actual being. She decided to change the subject by start asking her own questions.

"Akane?"

"Yes, Karin?"

"Are you and Ranma…close?"

It was Akane's turn to feel caught in the spotlight. "Close? What do you mean?"

"From the way you asked me about Ranma, I suspect that some relationship exists between the two you, am I right?"

Akane went into stubborn mode alert. "D-Don't be ridiculous, Karin! Ranma and I hate each other's guts! We're practically at each other's throats when we're together." Akane of course was exaggerating, which was more than what Karin, in her gullible mind, would want to believe.

"Really? Why is that?"

"Because!" Akane took on a deep breath. "It's kind of a long story… Something that I don't want go on saying or to be reminded of at moment."

"Oh, I see." Maaka looked downcast but maintained a weak smile. "I understand if you don't want to talk about it, Akane."

Both girls stood silent and still, letting time pass on, musing in each their own.

Akane broke the doldrums. "It all began…"

Karin quietly but attentively listened on.

* * *

Ranma boringly sat in his seat, unaffected by the ejection of his fiancé and that Maaka girl earlier by none other than 'little teach' herself. They had it coming, Ranma thought. Akane should have known better than to commit a simple, but delinquent, act like striking a private conversation during class hours and in Miss Hinako's class at that. He would have gloated over the reversal of fortune that befell his fiancé but such petty things were beyond him. And what's with that Karin girl, Ranma wondered, remembering the incident back at the gate. She ran away from him all the sudden as if he had the plague or something. Then just a while a go she then begins giving him weird looks that he couldn't figure. 

'Girls, I could never understand them.'

"Hey Ranma this is for you, from Ukyo." Daisuke handed him a piece of paper. After receiving it he unenthusiastically flipped it open, his dour eyes scanning the characters written within.

Lets have lunch together, okay!

From your cute fiancé,

Ucchan

A smiling chibi cariticature of the okonomiyaki chef was added at the end of the makeshift letter.

"Ucchan…" Ranma crumpled the piece of paper with a clenched fist afterwards.

* * *

Ranma sat alone at his usual spot, under the tree somewhere within the Furinkan school grounds, dully munching on his lunch – a yakisoba bread, which he got from the school canteen, a lucky find indeed since he usually has to join in the melee with the rest of the school for the limited choice selection the cafeteria had to offer. But these days, most students tend to prefer bringing their own lunches over the school's fare, lessening considerably the number of student patronage that stand in line, and thus Ranma's lucky break. He could have seconds if he wanted (if he had more money). But at that moment the meager meal he was having might as well have tasted like sand, as his miserable outlook in things has not simmered down. 

"Hey sugar, is this spot taken?"

Ranma grimaced at the voice of one his fiancés, Ukyo Kuonji. Dressed in her all-blue winter-type male uniform, the Okonomiyaki chef-student coyly slid down beside him.

"I made you something special." She brought out a steaming okonomiyaki laden with all sorts of toppings and covered in thick sweet sauce. "I call it the okonomiyaki super supreme, topped with extra love and care from yours truly: the cutest fiancé in the world." Ukyo presented her creation before Ranma who just scarcely glanced at it before taking another bite on his noodle bread.

"What? You don't like it, Ranchan," said Ukyo, feeling dejected.

Ranma sighed, mindfully putting away his unfinished lunch. "I'd rather not take anything coming from you, Ucchan. Much less talk to you right now."

"What's that suppose to mean?" said Ukyo, becoming flustered all the sudden.

"Do I have to repeat myself? I told you this already after the 'wedding', and the week after that, and I'm telling you right now: please give me time to think things over. Your 'speeding things up' is making it difficult for me."

Ukyo was insistent. "And lose to the 'others'! No way am I letting that happen. I'm taking every opportunity given to me right now to make sure I and I alone will win your heart, Ranchan!"

Ranma saw it Ukyo's face: she was beyond reasoning. No amount of telling her: that all he sees in her as merely as a friend to him – would make her stop her obsessive infatuation over him. Perhaps it was a result of all the frustrations she had to undergo when Pop and he left her for a fool, those many years ago. Ranma cursed his father but couldn't neglect the feeling that he was somehow responsible for the incident as well. Or does she really have a deep-hearted feeling toward him, ever since they first met. But to Ranma that affection seem one-sided and too possessive for his tastes.

Ranma wanted to try again. Try harder to reason with his cute fiancé, er, childhood friend. But his intentions were dashed when Shampoo suddenly dropped out of nowhere and carelessly bonked the okonomiyaki chef on the head, flattening her on the ground.

"Nihao, Ranma!" happily chirped the Chinese Amazon.

"Shampoo…" Ranma groaned. Things indeed were about to get worse.

"Shampoo come bring her homemade lunch to you." The purple haired girl from the Neko Haten limberly bore several layers of dim sum bamboo baskets with one hand as if they were nothing. "Tadah!" she exclaimed, opening the top most container, releasing a puff of steam and delectable aroma. "Shampoo made big severing of dim sum combo: dumplings and meat buns." Shampoo showed the basket's contents to the doubting pigtail haired boy. Indeed it contained dumplings (for now) and was still steaming hot but like Ukyo's gift, Ranma snubbed it as well.

"Sorry Shampoo but like what I told Ukyo" he pointed at the groaning sprawled form of the okonomiyaki chef on the ground, under the Amazon's feet. "I won't take anything coming from you girls…especially if there's strings attached. And besides," looking darkly at the dim sum again, "I wouldn't want anything you and your granny, the old ghoul, cooked up. Probably contains something weird that would do strange things to me."

Shampoo leapt off the Ukyo's quivering body and inadvertently stepped on Ukyo's okinomiyaki lunch made for Ranma.

"Aww, Ranma no like Shampoo's dish?" she the Amazon, putting on a pouting face. "Shampoo assures Ranma it safe to eat."

"Yeah, I bet!"

"Shampoo!" Mousse suddenly flies in into the scene.

"Rats! Mousse!" Shampoo cursed under her breath.

"Shampoo! Please go on da-ummph!"

Shampoo manages to stuff a piece of dumpling into the gawking mouth of the optically challenged hidden weapon master at the exact moment he landed beside her.

Mousse choked, savored, chewed and savored again the morsel. "Hmm! Anything that my Shampoo makes and puts into my mouth is proof of the abided love you have towards me!"

"Stupid Mousse."

Shampoo snapped her fingers, triggering the aftereffects of the drug, within the dumpling, in Mousse's system, causing him to stand ridged and become dazed.

"Act like a dog!" Shampoo commanded.

Mousse went on all fours and began barking and prancing like the canine he was emulating.

Shampoo then hefted a small piece of branch, using the back of her feet, flipping it up into the air and catching it with her free hand.

"Mousse, go fetch!" She tosses the wood with a mighty swing, making it spin and fly into the distance. Dog-Mousse enthusiastically bounds off after it, leaving the scene. "And don't ever come back!"

Ranma couldn't believe the audacity of the Chinese Amazon.

"What was that you were saying: it safe to eat?" said the pigtailed haired martial artist with much sarcasm, narrowing his eyes and crossing his arms on his chest.

Knowing that the gig was up, Shampoo playfully switched to Plan B. Adopting a devious visage, Shampoo faced her 'airen', a piece of dubious dumpling in her hand.

"Just one bite, Ranma. Just even one itsy-bitsy piece and Shampoo can do anything to airen.

"I would rather die than let that happen!" Ranma took on a fighting pose, ready to get serious with the Chinese Amazon

"How DARE YOU!"

Both Ranma and Shampoo jumped with a start, to a risen and very enraged Ukyo, burning with fury all over.

"For making me into your personal landing pad you half-witted BIMBO!"

Shampoo smirked; she was not the least bit fazed by Ukyo's insults. "Hmph! It fault of spatula girl for not sensing and avoiding Shampoo's arrival."

Ukyo gasped hard, upon seeing her flattened and ruined okonomiyaki creation near Shampoo's feet.

"You did THAT too!" Ukyo didn't wait for a response, unslinging her huge spatula for battle. "THAT'S IT! You're going pay for what you've done to my handmade lunch for Ranchan!"

"Bring it on, pancake-making girl! Shampoo ready for you!" The purple haired Amazon was poised to make her dim sum into improvised missile weapons against the okonomiyaki chef.

Now if Ranma were his usual self he would normally intervene between these two warring women and try to defuse the situation but that usually results in the intensification of the misunderstanding that ensues, and Ranma gets caught dead straight in the middle of it all. Right now Ranma was thinking more for himself, slowly inching away from the spot, leaving it to the girls to slug it out on their own.

Something long and flexible suddenly struck out like a blur, hitting Shampoo's stack of dim sum, startling the girl, and causing her to drop her load onto the ground.

"Airen's lunch!"

Ukyo felt vindicated. "Severs you right!" 'But where did that attack come from?'

A blizzard of black rose petals, engulfing the area, and a maniacal feminine laughter answered the okonomiyaki chef's question.

"Kodachi!" cursed both Ranma and Ukyo.

"Hohohohoho! If there is anyone that should lovingly provide Ranma-sama with a handmade lunch then that would be none other than me! The Black Rose, Kodachi Kuno! Hohohohoho!"

With much agile grace, the black ponytail haired girl, Kodachi Kuno, in her white and khaki St. Hebereke uniform, drops in to join the party.

"Ranma-sama, as your future traditional Japanese wife, I present you a fair token of the love and devotion I put in…just for you." She presents him a lacquered black bento box with golden trimmed black roses motifs.

"Please accept it. Oh, but do be considerate to me," said Kodachi, passionately blushing. "It just something that in my humble repertoire I would come up with."

Ranma was already quaking with frustration and anger inside, over what has transpired up to this point. This was supposed to be just a simple lunch break for him.

"Sorry for saying this Kodachi, but you're just simply crazy." Ranma's harsh words seem to have an effect on the female Kuno, who stood there with a shocked look on her face. "No matter what your sick, deluded mind says, I never have and never will like YOU! So you better stop appearing unannounced and pestering me for my affections. It won't HAPPEN!"

"Ranchan, how could you?" Ukyo was appalled by Ranma's behavior toward Kodachi "She may be presumptuous, conniving and perhaps insanely annoying most of the time but Kodachi…she doesn't deserve that kind of treatment… even from you."

Shampoo hooted as if mocking Ranma. "Uuuuh…Shampoo never thought Airen could be so cruel and scary."

"You three…you have it all figured, don't you? Hiding behind your self-righteous exteriors and blaming others of their faults while denying your own wrongfulness. I will not be coerced, threatened or made to feel guilty. Not anymore! I've had it! Now if you excuse me I'm leaving. I've wasted enough time here already."

Ranma didn't even get beyond three paces when a gymnast's ribbon suddenly shot out and entwined around him, pinning both of his arms to his body. Without control over his momentum, Ranma fell like a sack of potatoes on the ground.

* * *

"So you were both given time to think it over, is that right?" 

Both Akane and Karin had just finished lunch outside and were fixing up.

"That is…in essence the gist of it all," replied Akane to Karin, after finishing the whole history between Ranma and her, from their first meeting over a year ago up to the just recent wedding fiasco. In her retelling to Karin, Akane painted his fiancé as irresponsible, insensitive and a complete jerk. But she also convoyed of the brighter side of Ranma: like how he always rescues her from all sorts of distressful situations, much to her embarrassment; and of possessing a soft side that he always stubbornly hides. More importantly, Akane left out the parts of Ranma's water based gender-bender feature or Jusenkyou curse for no other reason than to avoid ridicule for her part.

Karin couldn't help but feel a bit jealous for Akane. In spite of the negative things said about Ranma, Karin could tell that Akane really likes Ranma and he in turn likes her as well, but both couldn't seem to be able to fully express it with each other. Karin wondered dreamily when she'll get meet such a guy in her life.

THUMP THUMP 

Karin eyes went wide with fright. 'Why did my heart just beat so hard just now? D-

Did it have something to do with what I just thought?' Luckily Akane did not notice Karin's distressful look, as her close friends: Yuka and Sayuri, showed up to greet the Tendo girl.

"Hey Akane, we've been looking all over for you to join us for lunch. Where were you?" asked Sayuri.

"Oh, hey Sayuri, Yuka. I just had lunch with our new classmate here, Karin. Karin these are my two best friends, Yuka and Sayuri.

"Hello, Karin," greeted Yuka.

"So Karin," began Sayuri, "how do you find you first day here, in Furikan High?"

"Hmm, it's generally okay so far, I guess. At first I thought that it was going to be hard for me to adjust here, but Akane was kind enough to befriend me early on."

"Please Karin, you're embarrassing me in front of my friends."

"That's Akane for you," said Yuka, joining in the dialogue. "Always being forward and assertive. We heard that you both met when that creep Kuno tried harass you earlier, is that right Karin?"

"Hm, that's correct. Oh, Ranma also helped…"

"_Is this guy bothering you, Karin?"_

'What is this I feel about Ranma?'

"_Just say what really is your mind and heart!"_

'Since that incident he has been on my mind on occasions. Why is that? Is it just a foolish girls wishful infatuation or…'

"_I'm sorry. Are you hurt?"_

'No! No! No! I mustn't! He's Akane's guy. What would she think if I had such…'

"Speaking of Ranma, isn't that him over there?"

Akane nonchalantly looked in the direction that Sayuri pointed out. "Sadly, yes," she muttered.

"And it look's like his fiancés are there too, including Ukyo," Yuka added.

"Like what I said," Akane's nerves began to twitch. "Sadly, yes."

"Hey isn't that the guy the one who always chases after that Chinese girl?" Sayuri was referring to the young man in white robes and black trousers, not far from them, who was crouching and appeared to by gnawing and shaking a piece of stick between his teeth.

"Mousse." Akane moaned.

"What's he doing?" Yuka wondered. "Does he think he's a dog or something?"

A male student, listening to his mp3 player through earphones, obliviously passed by the identity-confused hidden weapon master. "Man, this latest J-Pop artist rocks!" One of his finger snapping clicks reaches the ears of Dog-Mousse.

"Rrrrha. Rrrrha. Rrr-Phewy! Phewy! Phewy!" Mousse took a deep breath after coughing and spitting out the taste of wood in his mouth. "W-Where am I? What was I doing?" Looking around, his face suddenly brightens. He quickly zips for the object of his desires, grabbing it in his arms. "Shampoo! Shampoo! Please go on a date with me!"

Karin yipped in surprise and mortification as the half blinded Mousse griped her in a bear hug-like embrace, his head snuggling dangerously close to Karin's bosom.

Akane smacked his head, Ukyo-style. "Put on your GLASSES, Mousse!"

The slightly dazed hidden weapon master brought forth his coke bottle spectacles from his robes and put them on.

"Your not Shampoo!"

"Ain't that the obvious," angrily muttered Akane.

"I'm really sorry! It's just that," Mousse unconsciously lifts his glasses to his forehead. "I tend to mistake someone or something as my beloved Shampoo when I don't have my…" Like reflex Mousse strikes out, repeating his hugging antics. "Shampoo!"

"This is me, Mousse, Akane!" She summoned out her infamous mallet. "If you want your Shampoo, she right over there with that two bit, womanizing, gigolo, Ranma!" Akane bats Mousse off, sending him flying toward the direction of his fiancé.

"Karin! Karin! Are you all right? Speak to us, Karin!" Yuka tried to console the blushingly red faced girl, her eyes glazed and somewhat distant.

'That…guy…he touched me…so…' "I've never been SO embarrassed in my entire life!" Karin shouted to the heavens in indignation.

* * *

Kodachi pulled on her gymnast's ribbon, tightening the reins on Ranma's bonds. The Black Rose huffed in derision. "Apparently, Akane Tendo and the 'Pigtail Girl' still have a considerable hold in you my love; warping and corrupting your mind and heart with lies and detestation against me." 

"The only one whose mind and heart are warped and corrupted is yours, Kodachi!" Ranma tried breaking the bands holding him but they seem hard as steel.

Meanwhile Mousse's silly contorted body came flying over the scene to the much unmindful attention of the four concerned.

Kodachi's features soften, becoming despondent. "It really pains me to hear you say those things, Ranma-sama. But no matter." She opens the bento box she made for him, picking out a piece of ebi (shrimp) fry (which Ranma suspects to be drugged or poisoned) and holding it before his reluctant lips. "Take this and I'll bring to a place where I can make you forget all your worries and concerns. Where no one can bother us; a place where we can be together, forever."

A bonbori and few baker's peels came flying toward the dark ponytail haired gymnast, who anticipated and manages to dodge the incoming missiles by athletically jumping away, narrowly missing Ranma in the process.

"You stay away from Airen you copycatting psycho girl! Shampoo first to thought of giving drugged food to Ranma!"

"I take everything back. You're conceited, petty and above all insane, Kodachi! How dare you even presume that you could have Ranchan all to your self!"

Kodachi smirked at the two girls. "Hmph! I didn't know that you miscreants where even here, eavesdropping on me and Ranma-sama's confession of love."

"WHAT! That's IT, Kodachi! I'm taking you down!"

Ukyo rushed in with her giant spatula followed by a battle ready Shampoo.

"Shampoo not understands word 'miscreants' but sound like psycho girl insulting Shampoo!"

With her Rhythmic Martial Arts Gymnastic training, Kodachi dexterously hops and avoids the two girls onslaughts.

"Very persistent aren't we you hussies. Well at least Ranma-sama's lunch won't go to waste."

Still hanging on to the bento box by her side, Kodachi pulled out three pieces of potato balls from it, each locked between her fingers. "POTATO BALL BOMBS!" she declares, tossing them in a spread and exploding in wide area upon impact!" Both the Chinese Amazon and the Okinomiyaki Chef manages to avoid the brunt of the blasts.

"Aiya! They really are bombs!"

"Look out," warned Ukyo. "She's going to throw another volley!"

As the battle royal between the three fiancés rages, Ranma continued on squirming in his tie, hoping to at least free one his arms, but Kodachi's bindings were firm and tight, unyielding to the efforts of the pigtail martial artist.

"Never fear Ranma-sama! I shall return for you, as soon as I deal with these…'distractions' - that impend our being one and together! Hohohohoho!" Kodachi bounded off while tossing back explosive "foodstuff" ordinance at her pursuers.

"Come back here you!"

"Shampoo will get back at psycho girl!"

"Well Ranma, looks like your tied up a bit at the moment"

Ranma twisted his head toward the one who spoke. Coming in and hovering over his prone and immobile form, was Mousse, his glasses ominously opaque.

"Perhaps I should help," a wicked falchion flashed into his hand, from under his sleeve, an evil grin lining his face from ear to ear. "Cut you out!"

Ranma cursed. 'Great, now I have to deal with a killer frenzy, Mousse, as well!'

Mousse raised the heavy curved sword. "PREPARE TO DIE!"

'I have only one chance.' Ranma saw the bladed weapon descend. He timed the right moment to twist his body to the side causing the falchion to hit the periphery of the ribbon wrappings, slicing them to shreds and finally freeing him. Mousse was caught surprised by this daring move.

"What!"

Flipping into a crouching position, Ranma then executed an upward palm strike hitting Mousse from under the chin. But the spectacled-eyed hidden weapon masters had reacted quickly by jumping up and back, reducing Ranma's strike into a glancing blow.

"I will take more than that to beat me, Saotome Ranma!"

* * *

"Are you sure you're all right, Karin?" 

Karin nodded to Akane's concern. "Ahum. Who was that weird guy?"

"That was Mousse, Shampoo's childhood friend."

"Oh, the one who followed her here from China, right?" Karin remembered Akane telling her this.

Sounds of explosions jarred the attention of the girls.

"Something terrible is happening over there where Ranma is," worriedly voiced Yuka.

"It looks like the fiancés are at it again. Oh, I'm sorry Akane. I didn't mean…"

"It's okay Sayuri," reassured Akane, calmly smiling. "I understand and I'm not affected, really." 'I just wish those jerks take their issues elsewhere and shoved it…'

"Ranma! Lookout!" It was Karin, her shouted warning unnecessary, and would not have been heard, as Ranma breaks free from his bonds thanks to inadvertent help from his present adversary, Mousse.

Akane, with a surprised expression on her face, looked at Karin then turn toward her embattled fiance. Why was she feeling, for no better word, 'jealous' whenever Karin seems to show signs of interest over Ranma; or is just genuine concern for him? Akane fretfully wondered.

* * *

Ranma and Mousse battled in out with each other, hopping from one spot to the next with Ranma trying to talk his out of this and generally trying to avoid Mousse's attacks. But the determined Hidden Weapon Master was relentless and didn't give the pigtail martial artist time to take a breather. 

"Why are we exactly doing 'this', Mousse?" asked Ranma, jumping out at the last second from a bunch throwing knives that get to embed on the area he was on.

"Don't mess with me, Saotome!" Mousse followed Ranma into the air, exchanging several blows with him in mid-flight. "You know exactly why!"

"I must have missed 60 Minutes. No, tell me exactly!" Ranma surprised Mousse with a sweeping kick to the side, sending him painfully hurtling to the ground.

"Y-You! You, Ranma! You're the reason! As long as you're around, Shampoo will never be mine!"

'What's with everybody lately? Always mine this; Mine that; ALL MINE! Are they all developing a "possessiveness" complex? "Look Mousse, for the nth time, there is nothing between Shampoo and me! If you really like her you have to be more assertive, show that you're serious for her," 'Yeah, right. Like I've been like that to Akane lately.' "And for pete sake, keep your glasses on!"

"No…" dejectedly uttered Mouse. "You very well know that will never happen. No matter what I do, no matter how mush I profess my true feelings and love for Shampoo she'll always want you, Saotome…because you're there…Therefore…therefore…I MUST RID OF YOU in any way I can! No matter what!" Mousse leaps high into the air. "SCYTHES OF SORROW!" Mousse brings out a pair of scythe-type blades, from each sleeve, and throws them down at the stationary martial artist.

Predictably Ranma jumps up to avoid them, just in time to see a third whirling blade coming at him out of nowhere. Ranma cursed and tried to evade it, just barely. It struck him on his right arm, a couple of inches below the shoulder. "Ahhh!"

"Ranma!"

Ranma thought he heard someone call his name. He lands crouching, grimacing in pain and grasping his profusely bleeding arm.

"I've got you NOW Saotome! TAKEZUME KEN (Hawk's Talon)!" Mousse dived in for the kill, with metal claws that seem to spring out of his sandaled feet.

"Karin!"

Ranma had only a few seconds but it was enough. Turning to sound of the girl's name, Ranma indeed saw Karin several yards from him, standing like a stupid statue and looking at him strangely, with a Scythe of Sorrow arcing it way toward her. Looking to his other side, Mousse's clawed legs were less than two feet from him. Throwing all worries, Ranma spreads his arms forming into an irregular human T, with one aim for Mousse and the other at Karin's direction.

DOUBLE MOKO TAKABISHA! REVISED ATTACK! SPLIT STRIKE!

* * *

"Ranma!" cried out Karin, seeing him fall with a bleeding arm to ground, hisdripping bloodforming intosplotches on the pavement. 

THUMP THUMP

'His blood.'

THUMP THUMP

'His pain.'

THUMP THUMP

'Why are these so…attractive?'

"Karin!"

Karin lethargically faced the one who called her. 'Why are Akane and the others on the ground?'

Akane had forced Sayuri and Yuka to duck for cover when one of Mousse's bladed boomerangs flied in deathly close by. Remembering Karin, she called on the girl to do the same only to see her standing there on her spot, frozen with fear perhaps. She then saw the incoming blade that was sure to hit her. Akane had only moments to act as she quickly stood up to rush the girl.

Akane was trying to say something to Karin, but the purple haired girl couldn't hear well with all the blood rushing within her and the beating of her heart, making her all but deaf. She eventually somewhat understood Akane's expression by looking in time to see a rapid spinning blade flying toward her.

"No…NOOOOO!"

Karin's entire world turned to white.


	3. Chapter 3

Meeting Ranma is Embarrassing

Disclaimers: 1/2 belongs to Rumiko Takahashi and Karin to Yuna Kagesaki. Any cameo characters appearing in this story also don't belong to me.

My 'Secret' Is Out. Oh, How Embarrassing!

_The darkness. I don't know how long I've stared at it, but it seemed forever. _

_I see a crack of light…flickering, no…blinking…a blurry vision coming slowing into focus._

"You're awake. That's a relief."

_A familiar voice, I turn toward it. I see him clearly. It's Ranma. His face and his blue eyes, I can read the concern in them…concern for me. Oh, is this a dream?_

"You've been out of it for quite a while. I'd say three hours."

_No, it is not._

"Where am I?" _Looking for answers to my question, I look around my surroundings. I am lying on a bed for one thing and Ranma is sitting on another across me and the air has this weird smell that I couldn't figure._

"You're in the school clinic." Ranma pensively answered. "I…brought you here…after you fainted."

_I felt something on my cheek. I had to touch it._

"Sorry about that," said Ranma, referring to the band-aid plastered on Karin's left cheek. "I guess that's my fault as well." He tried looking away from Karin. "Akane is sure to bite my head off because of 'that'."

_He's feeling guilty, over what? How did I end up here in the first place?_

Karin tried recalling. She remembers seeing Ranma getting hurt by Mousse's attack and then blank. What happened to her during that lost time, she wondered? Things got hairy when she was made aware of one of those spinning blade thingy, which Mousse threw, heading straight for her! Two things happened before the blade was supposed hit her. One, she felt someone pushed her, causing her to stumble and fall. And two, her view of the world became brightly white afterwards…and then darkness. And now, she is here.

"Huh? Your arm…" Karin just now noticed the bandage wrap around Ranma's upper right arm.

"This?" Ranma became his usual confident self. "It's just a flesh wound. It will heal nicely in no time."

Karin also noticed that the bed Ranma was sitting on was occupied. The discernible features of Mousse, lying on that bed, were made apparent. Karin couldn't suppress a feeling of nervousness upon seeing him.

"A-And him?"

"Who? Mousse?" smugly replied Ranma. Bringing out a black ink marker he then proceeded in scribbling doodles on Mousse's sleeping face. "No need to worry about him. He just had a mild concussion. I made sure that the Moko Takishiba blast I gave him was controlled enough so as not to hurt him too much. The same way I controlled it t to…" Again, Ranma couldn't look straight at Karin

"Moko Tachiban?"

"Moko Takishiba." Ranma corrected her, his mood brightening up again. "It's a technique that I personally came up with. I channel my emotions into ki and discharge it into an ranged energy attack…It's really hard to explain…"

"This Moko Takishiba…you used it to save me, didn't you, Ranma?" she said, finally figuring it out.

"Hey, I don't deserve the credit! It's Akane you should be thanking more, not me," he said, being fiercely humble. Lowering his tone a bit, he continued. "If Akane didn't tackle you in time…if my ki attack missed, or worst…" Ranma dreaded the thought. "It would have been my fault, and I would never forgive myself."

Karin began to feel heavy in her chest. "But everything turned out all right." she said, trying to cheer up Ranma. "Other that this scratch on my face, I'm fine, and it's all thanks to you and Akane." Karin lowered her head and blushed. "You both…saved me…twice already. So there is nothing to worry now." Karin's blushing face became redder than usual. "And Ranma…what you did…was by no means less or was a mistake and…I thank you especially for that!" 'Oh, how embarrassing!' Karin playfully covered herself with a blanket to hide her blushing features.

Ranma was uncomfortably puzzled by her behavior "Hey, don't go on being weird with me and saying such stuff! It's embarrassing as it is."

_He's right. Why did I go blurting out those last few words? Oh, Karin, you blockhead! _Karin peeked out from her coverings, hiding half her face in shame.

Ranma stood up from bed and was making his way toward the exit, with hands clasp behind his head in a carefree manner. "Anyway it seems you're okay now. But you should talk with the nurse. She just went out and would be back anytime."

"Huh? You're leaving?" Karin felt relieved and disappointed at the same time.

"I promised Akane to see you through your recovery. Now that you've recovered I have to go back to class, or to what time is left for it. See ya!" Ranma waved at Karin without looking back as he left the clinic.

Karin felt her blood pressure lowering but a minute ache remained in her heart.

* * *

A doodle-etched faced Mousse blotted up from his serene slumber, frantically searching for his nemesis and archrival to his childhood sweetheart, Shampoo.

"Where is HE? Where is Saotome Ranma?" shouted Mousse, rapidly swiveling his head from left to right.

"Please keep your voice down! You're within school premises!"

Mousse squinted his close-quartered eyes toward the sound of the voice that spoke.

"Shampoo!" Mousse shot forth, grabbing his perceived object of desire.

"I said: 'keep your voice down!" The pretty nurse that Mousse groped broke free from his hold and gave the optically challenged 'duck boy' a karate kick to the gut, sending him flying across the room, bulldozing a bed before crashing on the wall and causing a web work of cracks on its vertical surface.

"And if you need shampoo go buy it in supermarket or convince store, pervert! Which reminds me."

The nurse sauntered toward the slumped and slightly dazed weapon master. She then pulled out a receipt and handed it over to him.

Putting on his spectacles, Mousse took the piece of paper and read it.

"What's this?" Mousse asked while adjusting the frames of his glasses.

It's the bill for your treatment here. It's a new school policy, courtesy of Kacho Kuno: all outsiders availing of medical services here in Furinkan High School will be charged accordingly for using the facilities."

Mousse's eyes went wide. "What! Ten-thousand yen!"

"Pay up!" The nurse folded further the sleeves of her right arm, threatening to give Mousse a knuckle sandwich. "Or else…"

Mousse slumped his head. 'This will cost me three month's salary.' "Do you accept manual labor."

* * *

Karin rubbed her band-aid covered cheek, as she walked her way home. She was given the rest of the day off by the school nurse on account of the minor injury she received in that fateful incident during lunch break at the schoolyard. Her parents would not be pleased, especially by the part where she gets to leave school early, which would lead in them knowing of the incident during lunch, to her being punished by Ms. Hinako, and so on and so forth. The thoughts of consternation made Karin's head hurt, not to mention make her blood pressure rise.

An idea suddenly flashed in her mind. An idea that would help alleviate the reprimand she would receive when she gets home, something unbecoming for an aspiring student such as her. Something unruly. Something bad.

* * *

"…That was totally reckless of you Ranma! What if that stunt you pulled hit Karin instead! Good thing I was there…"

Ranma pensively listened to Akane's harping as they emerged out of the school gates, for another school day has ended. She started lambasting him the moment classes were over, about the fiasco with his fiancés, the haphazard battle with Mousse and of course the endangerment of Karin's well being. Naturally all blame was directed toward him but Ranma just remained quiet all the while, his expression impassive but if one were to look closely into his eyes they would see the fettered frustrations that he was, having a hard time, holding back. They both visited the clinic earlier to check on Karin. But the nurse there told them that she was discharged before the dismissal of classes and was recommended by her to head home to rest.

"…Are you listening, Ranma! Where are you going?" Akane suddenly noticed Ranma deviating from her and heading in another direction. "That isn't the way home!"

"I'm going on a walk." He said finally, barely hiding the acridity of his voice. "See you back at the dojo." Fortunately for Akane she didn't see his scowling face.

Feeling ignored and ridiculed Akane was about to viciously call out her estranged fiancé when her older sister, Nabiki, came by her side.

"So Akane, I hear that you and Ranma went at odds with Kuno over a new conquest of his."

Akane wasn't even listening to her big sister. She just watched Ranma slowly disappear into the distance.

"What's her name?" Nabiki playfully continued. "Maaka Karin…"

Alarm bells rang in Akane's head upon hearing Karin's name. She turned to face Nabiki. "Don't you even dare include Karin in your money making schemes, Nabiki."

The middle Tendo sister was taken aback by the harsh comment coming from her younger sibling. "Gee Akane, what's with you? Must you dump your bad mood on me when Ranma's not around? And what's this Maaka Karin to you?"

Akane calmed down, feeling mortified. "I'm sorry Nabiki. It's Ranma, his actions…he always makes it hard for me and for…others. He should be more responsible…" Akane looked again in the direction Ranma went but he had already vanished out of sight. "As for Karin, she someone new, I've made friends with. She doesn't need to get mixed up in the craziness that goes around here," she faces Nabiki again this time with a serious look in her eyes, "much less become a pawn of yours for a quick buck."

Nabiki steeled her resolve, putting on a cocky grin. "Ouch, you sure know how to put it so bluntly, Akane."

"I should know, after what you did to my wedding!"

"Oh, please! Spare me with the sentimentalities!" nonchalantly responded Nabiki, haughtily shrugging off Akane's rejoinder. "I saw you, how you looked then and how you felt. You were having the pre-wedding jitters. I only did what a big sister would have done for her little sister."

"Yeah, you just invited everyone in Nerima, including Ranma's rivals and hussies. The wedding was a complete disaster area! And YOU profited from it greatly."

Nabiki sheepishly made a face. "That I did. But you know, Akane," suddenly becoming smug again. "You should probably thank me. You would have regretted it if I hadn't done what I did. Be thankful, that now you now have so much time to think about. Like whether if Ranma is the right guy for you?"

Akane got affected by the remark and wanted to respond but Nabiki stopped her.

"Gotcha! I was just pulling your leg." jokingly said Nabiki, she then skip on ahead and left her behind, flustered. 'But she right, I was having lots of doubts on that day. Would I have been happy with a life with Ranma?'

* * *

"Um, excuse me? Nurse?" Karin began.

"Yes?" responded the nurse while she was in process of checking the girl's blood pressure.

"I was wondering…if you wouldn't mind me asking, um…"

"It's all right," reassured the nurse. "You may ask me anything, Ms.-"

"Maaka. Maaka Karin."

"Right, I'm Koizumi Miyuki, but you can just call me Nurse Miyuki. Is that okay for you, Karin?"

"Um sure…"

"So what is it that you want to ask?"

"Well I was wondering…if you did something else to me other than patching my wound," Karin said, pointing out her band-aid covered left cheek.

"Well," Nurse Koizumi thoughtfully tried to recall, "other than that letting you sleep and rest for three hours straight, nothing else." she finishes with benefic smile.

Karin was relieved and perplexed. "You mean…you didn't take any test samples from me like…blood?"

"Huh?" It was Nurse Miyuki's turn to be puzzled. "No. Should I have?"

"Well…"

"Besides, it would been unethical for me do something like that without your consent and since your case wasn't serious I didn't see any reason for doing so. Does that answer your question, Karin?"

"Um, yeah…"

"Your blood pressure is one-forty over ninety, are you feeling okay?" asked Nurse Miyuki, touching the girl's forehead with her palm.

Karin flinched at her touch, reacting more to Nurse Miyuki's sudden inquiry. 'My blood pressure is up …she mustn't know…' "I feel fine," clumsily answered Karin. "Well I do feel a bit stressed out."

Nurse Miyuki began to write on a piece of note. Tearing it out of the pad, she handed it to Karin. "I'm giving you authorization to leave school early. I suggest you go home and rest and observe yourself to see if you can come to school to on the next day."

Karin hesitantly took the piece of paper. "Yes. I will…"

* * *

Karin traced her fingers on the band-aid spot.

I suggest you go home and rest and observe yourself to see if you can come to school to on the next day.

She then finally ripped the plastering off her face.

Also, it may seem nothing, probably fatigue, but I want you to see a doctor for that blood pressure of yours.

Her probing fingers told her that there isn't the slightest sign of the wound, no even a scar. 'I really should be careful next time.'

Karin sighed. She was presently sitting on a bench in some public park - her 'something unruly, something bad' plan in action: to wait out the remaining school hours of the day before heading home. That way 'they' wouldn't suspect a thing – finding out of the hassles that occurred to her in school and making them worry. Of course the term 'worry' is relative, in the case of Karin's family. Worry for them is like when one gets too conspicuous when around with outsiders; like when their hidden, dark secret is revealed to the world; or when a certain physiological defective daughter goes by her way in doing odd measures just to avoid the scrutiny of her family. Her 'plan' has gone smoothly without a hitch. Not a single Truancy officer was sighted during her idle stay here in the park. That was over an hour and a half ago. Karin looked at her watch. Fifteen pass five. 'Guess that's long enough, I better get going…'

THUMP THUMP

Karin lurched, her body quivering in pain as she clutched her chest. 'What…is this? It feels like my heart is jumping up and down…as if wanting to burst out me...'

THUMP THUMP

An unspoken voice told her to look at a certain direction, her glazed eyes widen. There, some distance away, Ranma was casually walking by, unaware of her presence.

'W-What's he…doing here?' Her breathing was becoming haggard and the inside of her mouth parched.

_Now's your chance! There's no one around, just you and him._

'The voice again…but why do I follow it?' Karin lethargically looked about the area, confirming the voice's observation. It seems fate had it that Karin and Ranma be only souls at this time, at this location.

_What are you still standing, gawking like an idiot, for? The 'prey' is getting away!_

'Must…follow…him…quick…' Karin seemed to loose any semblance of being in control herself, her actions, her movements, even her urges: they seem to react to the pulling machinations of a unseen puppeteer as she felt flitted up and forced to follow the fast disappearing pig tailed hair quarry.

* * *

Ranma continued to pace aimlessly around Nerima with no clear destination in mind, broodingly recalling all that has happened to him. 'Man, what a day it has been. The attacks and pestering have been getting more, more frequent lately that I'm not sure my sanity can take it. Maybe I should go on a private training trip of my own? That way no one will ever bother me for a while.' His mind suddenly brightened up a bit. 'But at least Ryoga hasn't appeared yet. He's the last person I'd want to meet in this never-ending rumble.' Ranma mused. 'Now that I think of it, it's been while since I've seen him, not since the wedding fiasco. I wonder where and how's the pig-boy doing?'

* * *

In a far off land, covered in mist and gloom, where tress are leafless husks – their upraised branches like twisted fingers contorted in silent agony, the infamous 'lost boy', Ryouga Hibiki was running for his dear life from a large pack of unusually large, demonic-looking wolves that are bent on making him into a piecemeal dinner.

"Curse YOU Ranma! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"

* * *

Ranma sneezed all of the sudden. 'He's probably thinking of me now,' he said, while rubbing his nose. His expression then darkened. 'I wish Akane would get off my case. I mean really, does she always have to put the blame on me, even if it's not my fault!'

To Karin's perception of the world seem to become a blur – hazy and distorted, even sound. The only things clear were her heavy breathing, her rapid beating heart, her voice and the other 'voice'.

_There he IS dead ahead. He'll never know what hit him before it's too late_.

Karin's sights trained on Ranma, focusing on him. He was several yards in front her. She could sense something profound emanating from him. 'What is this feeling? Why is it strongest at this time?'

_It is the proof of what you are and what you would be. Go now fulfill your legacy._

With a half-hearted will, Karin felt herself move in closer and closer toward Ranma.

'Ah, what does it matter! No amount of grumbling will change anything anyway. If I weren't a man I would show Akane a piece of my mind." Ranma stopped in his tracks, an uncomfortable reminder plaguing his mind. "This curse, it has complicated my life. The day I stepped into the Tendos', no, Akane's life, things got from bad…to worst.' He then solemnly thought: 'Akane were we really meant for each other?'

'He…stopped…does he know I'm near?'

_Now Karin! Now is the perfect opportunity to strike!_

'But…Ranma…he is a friend…the fiancé of my friend…Akane. Those two…were very good to me…I just can't!' Karin was beginning to gain the upper hand in the battle of wills with her inner demon.

_What are you doing? You can't turn back now! You're at your limit. If you don't you will…_

'I JUST CAN'T DO IT!'

In her private struggle with the 'voice', Karin failed to notice the close proximity she'd gotten to the pigtail martial artist.

Finally sensing someone behind him, Ranma turned his head to look back. "Huh? Karin?"

Karin was stupefied, as she came face to face with Ranma. Her body felt very hot all over and her face crimson red with shame and apprehension.

* * *

"NOOOOO!"

"What's wrong Kasumi!" asked Soun Tendo his eldest daughter, as he and Genma Saotome entered the kitchen upon hearing her scream.

"A cockroach. It just crawled over the vegetables I've bought." She pointed at the tabletop where a pile of greens and veggies, she bought earlier in the market, sat.

"Is my poor Kasumi, all right? Did the dirty roach hurt you?" A teary eyed Soun affectionately hugged his precious, beloved daughter.

"I'm fine father, but the roach?"

"I think you should call in an exterminator, Tendo?" suggested Genma, looking thoughtful.

"I don't think that would be practical." Nabiki joined in the scene. "Not with the latest food bill we have thanks to you and Ranma." she bluntly stated, in cold mercenary-like fashion.

Genma put on his 'Mr. Panda' mask and held out a sign. 'It was just a friendly suggestion.'

"Well friendly suggestions just don't cut it, Mr. Saotome."

Kasumi interjected, putting on a cheery demeanor. "Oh, you're home Nabiki, and Akane too. Where's Ranma?"

"I don't know and I don't care," irately answered Akane. "I'm going up to change and head for the dojo to practice. Call me if dinner is ready, Kasumi-nee." She then rigidly headed off for the stairs and for her room.

Those left in the kitchen turned to Nabiki. She shrugged. "They had they're usual heated arguments and Ranma just took off. Most probably to blow some steam off as well?" Nabiki started leaving. "Guess I'll follow suit with Akane, except for the 'practice in the dojo' part." And she finally left.

Soun burst into tears. "Waaahhh! The schools will never be united now!"

Genma replied. "I wouldn't worry, Soun. As if you haven't gotten used to those two's bickering antics. Besides the boy's got to eat and I'm sure he will be coming home to Kasumi's delicious cooking. Isn't that right, Kasumi?"

"Mr. Saotome is right, father. Please rest your fears."

"Besides," Genma continued. "Ranma may be crude and difficult most of the time but he's one dutiful son. He'll do the right thing eventually."

* * *

Blood. Blood. BLOOD. It was everywhere! Or at least that's how Ranma saw it as he sat on his haunch. The spot and immediately around it, where he lay was drenched in a pool of blood. He himself was covered, from head to toe, with the red and warm viscous substance. And there, clumsily sprawled on top of him, just below his chest was a semi-conscious Karin who seemed to be in an extreme state of distress. Blood was oozing out of her nostrils in dribbles, flowing past down her mouth, neck and eventually staining her school uniform. Ranma could barely believe what he saw before all this transpired.

* * *

"Karin?" Ranma was surprised to see her right behind him without him noticing her presence early on. 'Is she a martial artist?' But more importantly he wondered why she was here.

Karin just stood there, facing him wide-eyed with a guilty look – as if caught doing something wrong. Her face was unusually red as if all her blood literally rushed to her head. She wanted to say something, an explanation perhaps? But that didn't happen. Instead, the most bizarre thing occurred. She buckled all of the sudden; her hands moved far too late to cover her nose as a gushing crimson spray blasted out of her breathing holes. It was blood! Ranma was so flabbergasted by the spectacle that he did move from the spot and was thus splashed all over by the hot tangy liquid.

* * *

Next thing he knew, Ranma was on the ground with Karin, her sleepy head cradled on his stomach. Ranma concernedly wanted to check on the girl's condition, but felt awkward by all of this. He had to do something nonetheless, and fast, Karin's life might depend on it.

"Hey, Karin," said Ranma, gently shaking the girl. "Are you okay? Can hear me? Please be okay!"

"You…saw it…" mumbled Karin, with half-opened eyes straining to look at him.

Ranma could only oblige in answering her. "Huh? Yeah I did."

"Then…I must call Anju…she'll…fix this mess…" Karin was fumbling for her celphone.

"I must get you to a doctor, quick!" Ranma began to stand and gently take hold of Karin in his arms. "Perhaps Dr. Tofu could…"

Karin grabbed Ranma's blood-soaked Chinese shirt by the shoulder, dropping her cellular phone to the ground in the process. "Please," she pitifully pleaded, her cheeks burning red. "No doctors. No hospitals. Not even quacks. 'This' is nothing…it's just a nose-bleed."

Ranma couldn't believe what Karin just said. "A 'nose-bleed'? You call this," referring to the blood around them, "a nose-bleed? It's more like a bloodbath! I may not know about medical stuff, but I don't think your sickness, anemia, is anything like this."

"Please Ranma," she struggled to lean ever closer to the pigtail martial artist, causing him to uncomfortably blush. "No one…must know of this…" Karin then became downcast. "You don't know what it feels like…to be different, to be looked down upon, to be ridiculed. To be called a failure. To be called a freak."

Although he wasn't sure why Karin was saying those things some of them seem to hit home with Ranma.

"I don't want anyone else to know. I just want to live a normal life of a teenage girl…for as long as I can."

"I don't know your personal issues, Karin. But I do know that you need immediate medical attention."

"Like what I said…I'll be all right…I just need to call my little sister. She can help." 'And that means having Ranma undergo the 'routine'. I'm sorry Ranma…' "Um," Karin blushed somewhat after realizing fully the position she is in. "Can you please let me down so can pick up my phone."

Ranma reluctantly complied. Karin momentarily wobbled when she was on her feet. Ranma reached out to keep her steady.

"Whoa, can you stand?"

Karin simply nodded.

"I'll get it." Ranma bent over to get Karin's phone. He then handed over to her.

"Thank you." she said. She began dialing, prompting it up to her ear she and waited for it to connect. 'Come on, Anju, please answer.'

"The number you've dialed is either unattended or out of coverage area!"

'No, this can't be. Please Anju, answer your Oneechan. I beg of you!'

"Is there something wrong? No answer?" Ranma asked, noticing the growing distress in Karin's expression.

"There's probably no signal here…" Karin lurched, feeling woozy.

Ranma caught her again. "Hey, take it easy. I really think you should see a doctor…"

'I have no other choice.' Karin mused, oblivious to the sounds of Ranma's lecturing voice. 'I'm going to have to depend and trust him.'

"Ranma?" she began.

"Huh?"

"I must ask you a favor, Ranma. Instead of taking me to the doctor, can you please help me get home."

Ranma was baffled by the girl's stubborn instance of not having her 'condition' checked; he just wanted to see to her well being. Karin noticed this.

"I assure you Ranma, no doctor, no medicine, can help me. Only my family can help. You must believe and trust me. If you don't or… if you won't… Then I'll just go myself."

Ranma grabbed her arm, as she was about to wobbly set off. "I didn't say that!"

Karin faced him blushingly, her body tingling all over at intensity of his assertion.

"God this is all just all too weird! Fine then, I'll take you home. Surely then your parents will have the right mind of taking you to the hospital when we get there."

Karin felt glad. "Thank you…Ranma."

"Well hang on tight then." Ranma carefully picked her up, carry her in his arms.

Karin was embarrassed and a bit excited by whole thing. "Um, is this necessary?"

"Don't worry, I'm used to these kinds of things. Now hang now. The first leap can be queasy."

"Wha-aaaAAAHHH!" The couple catapulted high into to air, leaving the park grounds and the bloody scene.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Karin shrieked, holding tightly to the pigtail martial artist with dear life.

"Leap Hopping!" Ranma answered, through the rush of wind in his face. "It's the quickest way to get around Nerima! Now tell me the directions to your house!"

As they leap hop from one rooftop to the next, Karin gingerly directed Ranma the route to take.

Karin snugly rested her head on Ranma's chest. 'Why do I feel as if I've been in this situation before? It may seem different, but the feeling is the same.' She blissfully savored the moment, hoping it would never end.


	4. Chapter 4

Meeting Ranma is Embarrassing

Disclaimers: Ranma 1/2 belongs to Rumiko Takahashi and Karin to Yuna Kagesaki.

My Family - the Maakas, or is it the Markers? Anyway I'm so Embarrassed of Them.

It was a few minutes before six in the evening when they landed at the designated spot specified by Karin. The neighboring area was devoid of any residential structures save for a cobbled walkway that passes under an avenue of overgrown cherry blossom trees - that gave the path a gloomy and foreboding cast.

"We're here." Karin stated after being set down by Ranma.

"'Here'?" Ranma dubiously looked around the place. "Where's your house?"

Bringing out clumsy smile to her face Karin uncomfortably answered. "It's right through there." She pointed at the darkened path.

Ranma became more dubious by the whole thing. "You're kidding right? Hey, who are calling now?"

"My little sister, Anju…" Karin answered. She waited for a response on the phone. 'Please answer, Anju!'

"Why bother, we're 'here' aren't we? I'll just accompany you all the way." Ranma took a step forward.

"NO, you can't!" Karin rushed in to bar Ranma's way, outstretching her arms in emphasis. "I mean," Karin tried to make a plausible excuse. "What I'm trying to say is that," she finally thought one. "My parents are very particular in receiving visitors and I'm not ready to have them meet you. That's it, hehe…"

Ranma just sighed and gave in to her elusive behavior. "Fine then, if that's the way you like it. But what are we to do now, just wait out here?"

Karin was at a lost over all of this. In the past Anju would respond to her beckon as soon as possible and come to her almost immediately, to help her deal with a situation like this. But for some reason she wasn't answering her phone now. Or was that really her intention? 'No, she wouldn't do that! Why would she?'

"Yo, Karin?"

"Huh?"

"It's getting awfully dark now. It wouldn't be good for either of us to stay out here like this, you know."

Karin sighed. Things were definitely not going her way. Not only has part of her secret been revealed to an outsider but she took it upon herself to lead the after mentioned outsider near her home. And to compound it all, her supposed 'partner in crime', Anju, couldn't be contacted at this crucial moment.

'I can't take Ranma along to the house nor can I allow him to leave just yet. Oh, Anju, What am I to do?'

Karins's prayer was answered when her cell phone bleep to life – playing a distinctive themed soundtrack. It's a text message. Karin immediately checked it out. It read: 'Onee-chan, please go the house now. Do not ask why. Leave the stranger to me.'

"Well?" anxiously asked Ranma.

"It's from Anju, my little sister," she answered without looking at him, a grim expression forming from under the bangs of her purple hair. 'Looks like Anju is ready. I'm really sorry for this, Ranma.' She faced him, putting on a fake smile. "From here on, I must go alone. I thank you so much, Ranma." She politely bowed to him. "For bringing me home, or at least very close to it." With one last sheepish grin, Karin turned around to head off.

"Wait! What about your 'condition'? Can you walk now?"

Karin stopped, and then turned around to face him once more. "Of course I can, see!" She tapped both of her shoe covered feet on the stony ground to give him reassurance.

It's true; while he carried her half across Nerima Ranma could tell that her state had gradually improved since that 'nose bleed' incident of hers.

"And my blood pressure has gone down. So I feel a lot better." She then did a couple of playful twirls, which was a mistake in her part. She could feel her world spinning, tumbling down.

"Oh!" Karin yipped. She lightly bumped into something, or was it because her fall got arrested?

"You okay?"

Karin's perception steadied. She was held upright in Ranma's arms, with her cute head cushioned by his firm chest.

"Spinning like, after what you've gone through, will really make you feel dizzy and sick, you know."

Karin closed her eyes, brushing her face on to the bloodstained Chinese shirt. 'I can still smell the blood on his clothes, my blood.' She blushingly faced him.

"I'm really sorry about your clothes…"

"Yeah, well, it was an accident after all," said Ranma, feeling discomfited, quickly steering the conversation in a different direction. "But I'm very sure Kasumi won't be happy when she sees this."

"Kasumi?" reacted Karin, rather apprehensively.

"She Akane's older sister," answered Ranma, remembering fondly of only good things about the eldest Tendo sister. "She very kind and considerate and she know how to cook" his face then frowned "unlike that tomboy of a sister of hers."

"Oh…" Karin was somewhat glad by the stated fact.

Her eyes suddenly widen in realization. "NO!" She pushed away from his light embrace. "I'm really sorry! I must get going!" she self-consciously blurted and quickly sped away.

Ranma was dumbfounded. "She does recover quite fast. Maybe she is some sort of martial artist?" He started heading back the way he came, but suddenly stopped. He was a bit curious if not concerned about Karin. What secrets does she have that she's hiding? Does she really live around this 'place', which was practically in the middle of nowhere? 'Why do I even care? She's just a classmate of mine. And a very cute classmate at that…perhaps even cuter than…' Ranma shook the thoughts off. 'Arrgh! What am I thinking? It doesn't mean a thing!' He looked back at the darken path. "I'll just go and see if she made all the way safely."

Up among the canopy of the cherry blossoms a pair of watchful eyes went unnoticed by Ranma's acute senses, silently observing the pigtail boy as he followed Karin's trail.

"Aren't you going to make your move, Anju?" asked a whiny and grating voice.

"No," replied a soft-spoken young female speaker "we shall wait and see, for now, Boogie-kun."

Ranma wasn't sure on how long he had trekked through this trail but two things remained constant - everything here was shrouded in shadows and the air had an oppressive feeling of dread. He wasn't even certain if the setting sun was still up or if it was already early evening - when the stars are up - outside of this confining environment, for time seems to strangely stand still here.

'Man, how long does this go? It seems to go on forever, and what's with all these bats?' Although it didn't bothered him too much Ranma had noticed ever since he entered this nether world of a place swarms of the flying rodents nosily chittered at his presence as if welcoming him to their dark domain. Or were they mocking him for his seeming helplessness with his bearings? 'This place is a sure winner for a cheesy horror fest," he mockingly implied. A trivial thought crept into Ranma's mind at that moment. He had watched the movie – The Ring, a creepy horror flick with his friends, Daisuke and Hiroshi some weeks ago. Even though the movie was not his kind of thing, even to the point of not admitting it himself, the film kind a freaked him out. He had nightmares, for days, after watching it. An image of Sadako's longhaired covered face and gangly form, shambling right behind him played into his thoughts. Ranma gulped hard at the notion, realizing just now how his mind and eyes were playing tricks on him in this place. Someone or something touched him at the back. "Yiiiaaah!" Ranma jumped in fright.

"Greetings Saotome Ranma." A soft, feminine voice spoke from behind.

His worst fears (besides cats) were realized. 'It's Sadako! It's Sadako!' Ranma fearfully turned around to face perceived fiend. "Huh?" Standing right there was not a woman but a girl perhaps twelve years of age and having long flowing locks of platinum blonde hair with a cute black ribbon tied at the back, not black and unkempt strands. Her face was not covered exposing it as cute, adorable even, if not being serious and impassive. She was however dressed in a black billowing dress, with a red bow tied at her collar. Cut just below her knees with white stockings covering her daintily legs finally ending with a pair of black retro loafers on her feet – very sophisticated compared to a simple white frock. One last thing that makes her stand out is the Muppet-like, straw haired, stuff toy she cradles with both arms which morbidly carries a cleaver in one of its small closed fisted hands.

"I am Anju, Anju Maaka." She simply said, without much emotion.

It took a while for Ranma to recover and to finally digest who was before him. "Ha! You're Karin's younger sister!" he exclaimed. "Wait a minute, how did you know me?"

"I know many things, especially if it concerns my big sister, Karin."

"We've been keeping track of that 'failure's' progress with Anju's familiars," interjected a new speaker.

Ranma eyes widen. Surely his eyes, and his ears, were definitely playing tricks on him. He swore he just saw that puppet that Anju carries move, more so since it seems to be the one that last to have spoken. "Did that doll just talked?" Ranma asked Anju, keeping an eye on the stuffed toy.

Still emotionless, Anju answered his query. "No…I am a…ventriloquist…and this," she begins to squeeze hard on the puppet which seems to exudes an audible wheezing groan. "Dummy…is my assistant, Boogie-kun."

"A-anju-san…y-your…strangling…me…"

"It is all just part of an act," she finally said, easing her grip on Boogie-kun who huffed in relief.

"Heh, neat trick." Ranma wirily smiled. "You're very good at it, for someone your age."

"Saotome Ranma…"

"Please just call me Ranma."

"Very well, Ranma. Tell what is my big sister to you?"

Ranma was not sure of the question asked; it seemed too vague and cryptic just like Karin's sister here, Anju. He answered her nonetheless, carefully choosing his words. "She just a classmate of mine, that's all."

"Then why did you all help her out on several occasions during the day? Like you did when upperclassman Kuno was harassing her. Or saving her from one of Mousse's slapdash assaults."

Ranma angrily interrupted her. "Hey, how do know all those things, have you be spying on me? Who put you up to this?"

"Answer the question." Anju's tone of speaking was mild-mannered yet Ranma could sense an aura of persuasiveness emanating from this unusual girl.

"What did you expect me to have done, just let get hurt? Of course I had to help her! I will help anyone who can't protect themselves!"

Anju was surprised by Ranma's answer that it caused her to momentarily lower her stoic mask. "Is that so…" she softheartedly said, more to herself. 'Can he be the one…can he help, Oneechan?' "Last question," she put on her serene, serious visage once again. "Why did you follow my big sister in here?"

"I just wanted to make sure she got home safely. Look, since you're here you must know, right? If so I can get home already."

"She is probably home by now…you need not worry about her, Ranma."

"Well if you say so I'll be leaving then. Say you got an interesting neighborhood around here. Nice and peaceful…"

"Wait, Ranma. I'll help you on your way." Anju outstretched one of her hands – it began to glow yellow!

Karin was panting with exhaustion when she finally reached her house, that gothic-like structure sitting on a hill like some bloated spider contently laying within the folds of this web of forested growths. "I…made…it…" Karin looked back, forlornly wondering of the outcome of Anju's handling with Ranma. She hoped that it would be like as always, clean and without fuss. Tomorrow when she meets Ranma he won't remember a thing related to incident at the park thus preserving her embarrassing secret. Right now Karin is more worried of the reception she'll be getting from her parents, they're most probably up and about at this time. Bracing her whole being, she began opening the front door. "I'm home…" Something small, whooshing at high velocity, struck Karin squarely on the front of her head leaving a visible imprint of the object on her face.

"Ha! I got you!" pettily declared a busty and somewhat attractive middle-aged woman, her platinum blond hair tied into a bun, not far from where Karin stood. She was sans one sandal, having used it as an impromptu missile weapon against Karin. "What is this we've been hearing from Anju, that you brought a boy near the location of our home, hmm, Karin? Explain?" Someone tapped her on the shoulder a couple of times.

"Carrera dear, I think you've over done it again," said a tall, slight and finely bearded man in whites and blacks who from his appearance could pass as a vampire antagonist role in some Dracula flick if not for his hangdog outlook.

The white-haired woman in red took a second look at Karin who lay prone on the floor - a silly, out cold expression was plastered on her face with a trickle of blood slightly oozing out of one of her nostrils. "Oops, I think your right, Henry…"

Ranma woke, finding himself lying face up on a grassy slope. "Where am I? Did I fall asleep?" He looked around, seeing a path nearby leading to large copse of cherry blossoms, the opposite direction leading back to Nerima lighted skyline, for if was already early evening. "God, look at the time!" Ranma sprang up into a standing position and began dusting himself, that's when he found out. "Karin's blood. How am I going to explain this to Kasumi-chan?" Something moist lightly touched the tip of Ranma's nose, followed then by another droplet and another. "Great, something I don't need. On the other hand this could partly solves my problem?" he said, referring to his bloody clothes. He looked again at the direction of the darken path. "For what it's worth it, I hope Karin is safe and sound."

Up within the confines and on a bough of a Sakura – the one that Ranma was looking at.

"Do you think he'd seen us?" spoke Boogie, his beady eyes following the every move of the pigtail boy, as he was about to leave. The increasing number of pelting rain drops indicated that it was about to drizzle.

"I don't know?" simply replied Anju, already holding an opened umbrella to shield her, and her stuffed companion, from the threatening rain.

"Did you have to be so lenient on his memory wipe, Anju?"

"I want to…test him. To see if he could be of help for Oneechan."

"I don't know. You're taking awfully a great risk here if you ask me." A sudden mild downpour occurred. "Whoa!" If Boogie's eyes were the normal kind they would go wide in wonder over what he saw – Ranma turning from a he into a she. "Now that's interesting!"

"Indeed it is, Boogie-kun." Anju's lips broke into a 'sinister', playful smile. "Indeed it is…"

Within the dark confines of their living room, the Maakas silently sat as they contemplated on issues regarding one of their estranged members, Karin. Henry Maaka, the family patriarch, initiated to break the ice.

"So that's how it was with Karin's first day in her new school." Said Henry, bobbing his head in all knowing manner. "I never have imagine that we would encounter such complications early on after our recent transfer here in Nerima."

**WAPAK! **

"And whose fault was that for having chosen this particular prefecture to start a new life in?" heatedly answered Carrera in response after hitting her husband with one of her infamous footwear.

Henry cowered more in fear than from the pain of the assault coming from his wife and resulted in bringing out his spineless side. "But I checked this area before we moved in! From what I ascertained, Nerima seems to the epicenter of the strange and bizarre. Normal folks here almost dismiss these seemly everyday 'occurrences' as ordinary. This is the perfect place for us to start anew."

"And I suppose vampires who discreetly prowl every night to feed on hapless victims, will be deemed seen as ordinary by normal people? Sometimes I wonder why I married you, Henry!"

"Still," Anju finally joined in, "we need to be ever prudent in our actions as long as Oneechan has not fully awaken yet."

"And finally find the cure to her peculiarity," sagely add Henry.

"And what of that Ranma boy, hmm?" Carrera implied indecorously.

Anju answered her mother's question. "I believe we should solicit his aid in our plans."

Henry is uncomfortable with the idea suggested by his youngest daughter. "You mean just like what we did with Usui Kenta?"

"But haven't we learned our lesson yet: associating with humans will only bring us… inconveniences. Look where it gotten us into?" Carrera gave Henry a stern stare causing him to cringe.

"But discretely feeding on the human populace doesn't guarantee us absolute security if we're not too careful. We may in time, if the situations warrant it, have to move away from here. Also I would like to point out that it wasn't Usui Kenta but Winner Sinclair who was instrumental in our ejection from the last town. Second, if it weren't for Kenta-kun, Onee-chan would not be here with us. He practically saved Oneechan from the angry mob and put to risk his own life and prestige in the process. And finally it was his wish to have Oneechan forget about him completely, for her sake."

"Hmm, I remember," solemnly hummed Henry. "We complied to his wishes by combining our midewipe power in erasing all memories pertaining to Karin's past experiences in that town: her friends, her happy and sad moments…"

"Don't forget embarrassing ones," interjected Carrera.

Henry nodded. "…And of course, Usui Kenta…"

Silence prevailed within the Maaka family living room save for the soft rustling sound of rain outside.

"Regardless," Carrera began, "how do we go about in persuading this Ranma in helping us, Karin I mean?"

Both parents of Anju turned to her for insight. "I'm not sure yet, for I haven't thought that far ahead…"

Boogie who had remained silent for the longest suddenly blurt out. "Aren't you going to tell them of what we-hmfph!" The platinum blond lolita clasped shut, with one hand, Boogie-kun's puppet trap, prematurely cutting off the slip out

"'Tell us' what, Anju dear?"

Carrera joined in with her husband. "Yes, Anju, what was Boggie trying to say?"

"It's…nothing. You know how Boogie-kun loves to ramble about nonsensical matters." Anju stood up. "Father, Mother, I like to be excused so I could check on Onee-chan."

"Of course, Anju," benignly said her father, "we'll talk about 'this' latter. Go on and see how Karin is doing."

Anju turned to her mother.

"Ok, fine then, latter," she apathetically said, excusing her daughter with a wave. "Oh, and Anju?"

"Yes, mother?"

"Tell that sister of your that…I'm sorry about earlier."

If the statement, coming from her mother, surprised Anju she didn't show it. "I will. Excuse me." Anju left the living room, leaving her parents perplexed on a couple of unsettling thoughts.

"Do you think, Anju, knows something we don't know, Carrera dear?"

"How should I know? You're the smart one here."

Karin groggily moaned, trying to open her blurry eyes, her head feeling as if it was hit by a freight train. "Where…am I?" she weakly muttered

"You are in your room, Oneechan."

Karin bolted up from her sleeping position, recognizing her little sister's voice and seeing her impassively seated beside her bed. "Anju! Ah…" Karin put a hand to her aching head.

"Ah, the 'failure' has finally awakened." chided Boogie-kun. "I thought Carrera-san's psychically infused sandals would done you in for good…erked!"

Anju wringed and violently shook Boggie-kun, by his neck, for the rag doll he is, while adopting a calm and composed demeanor. "You must forgive our mother's 'antics', Oneechan. In spite of her being eccentrically callous she actually means well for you."

"Well she has a strange way of showing it." Karin rubbed her nose, which still felt sore. She suddenly remembered. "Oh, how did it go with my classmate, Ranma? Karin eagerly asked.

Anju stopped shaking Boogie-kun, to the relief of the doll-familiar. "It was…settled." said Anju

"That's great, Anju!" Karin gave her a loving sisterly embrace. "I knew I could always count on you!"

Anju was startled by the action, causing her to blush. "Oneechan…" Both sisters savored the moment with each other but more so for Anju.

"Ah, ah, please don't do this with me in the middle!" pointed out Boggie who was getting partially squished in between the sisters' affectionate cuddle.

Anju eventually brushed out of Karin's touch, bearing the feeling of guilt inside of her – of telling white lies and such to her beloved sister. "Oneechan, how's your blood pressure?" she asked, changing the topic.

Karin dismissed Anju's recent inaptness, happily answering her question. "It's funny you should ask that but just this day," Karin flushed with embarrassment, looking down and twiddling her forefingers together. "I had couple of nosebleeds incidents and a few near occurrences when my blood rose while in school.

"Do you know what triggers them?"

"No…ah, wait!" Karin made a startling realization, something that she wanted to deny in believing. "My blood pressure seemed to rise whenever I'm near a particular individual in school…" '…Ranma…but why is that?' "I'm not sure but I think one of those incidents of nosebleeds occurred because that person was there."

"I see…"

"But you need not worry, I home now, Anju." said Karin with a smile, trying to dispel any worries or concerns swirling within her mind. All she wanted now was to spend quality time with her little sister and perhaps the only best friend she has in the world.

"Oneechan, do you know why your blood rises whenever you're near this…person?" It was a statement, not a question.

"No…Do you know something about it, Anju?"

Anju lightly nodded. "It means that you blood type is near and…that you need to feed."

"Blood type?"

"Every vampire has his or her preference in blood type. It comes as something natural when a fledging vampire finally becomes awakened. For father it's of those who are conceited; for mother – liars; big brother, Ren, he goes for those filled with stress in their lives,"

Boogie-kun then added. "Preferably with women, but he had this experience…"

"And yours, Anju?" excitedly interposed Karin, anxiously wanting to know her little sister's blood type.

Anju inwardly renewed her resolve in playing this farce of innocence, and at the same she tried to suppress a feeling of embarrassment in her part. "Jealousy. My blood type are of those with envious hearts and minds."

"Wow! Really?" Karin was really amazed by all this revelation coming her sister which seemed all new to her and yet there was this nagging feeling of déjà vu about all that what was said but she couldn't put her finger on it. Boogie-kun in the meantime was irritably vexed for seemingly ignored by the two girls but kept the feeling to himself, less he liked to be subjected to Anju's more or less insidious wraths.

"Does that mean I'll soon be awakened?" Karin started asking again, sounding worried.

"In a way, yes."

"But that means…" Dark and unsightly ideas and images plagued Karin's thoughts, of the life of an awakened vampire. "I will be biting people. People like my classmates in school." 'People like Ranma, oh no!' "I'll be sucking their blood!"

"Not exactly…"

A few minutes later…"WHAT! NO WAY! THAT'S SO EMBARRASSING!"


End file.
